Chapter 518: Weaponmaster Special Effect
The first skill awaiting evolution was Weaponmaster.
The skill was incredibly useful. It was versatile, Epic-ranked, and covered multiple weapon disciplines in a single foundation. Daggers, swords, bows, spears, shields. Whichever weapon Moon happened to be holding at any given moment, Weaponmaster amplified it.
Now that Tom had gifted him a B-Rank Second Order sword forged by Master Veylin, the skill had become even more useful. The sword’s elemental conduction properties combined with Weaponmaster’s damage multiplier created a synergy that would make his strikes much more lethal.
Furthermore, Moon’s combat style had been changing in the past month. He had spent his early days fighting exclusively at mid to long range, relying on his elemental spells to keep distance between himself and his enemies.
After slowly accumulating more skills, and fighting hundreds of beasts in close quarters to develop Battle Instinct, the duels with the pavilion spirit and the assassin, the battle with the Elephantos and the three Evolvers in the clearing, Moon had slowly but surely become a hybrid fighter.
He fought at every range now. Weaponmaster was the spine of his close-range capability.
Evolving it would amplify everything.
[Weaponmaster]
[Order: First]
[Rank: Epic]
[Level: 10]
[Evolve]
[Details: You have attained mastery over daggers, swords, bows, spears, and shields. Damage dealt with these weapons is increased by an additional 200%. Only one armament may empower you at a time, granting a 100% increase to defense. This effect does not stack.]
Moon confirmed the evolution.
[Level 10 → 11: 64 Lives]
..
[Level 15 → 16: 2,048 Lives]
..
[Level 19 → 20: 32,768 Lives]
[Total Consumption: 65,472 Lives]
[Your First Order Skill ’Weaponmaster’ has evolved to Second Order!]
Information about weapons began to enter his mind. Techniques he hadn’t consciously understood became clear. The improvement consisted but was not limited to better footwork, stances, defence, and offense.
Moon pulled up the new status.
[Weaponmaster]
[Order: Second]
[Rank: Epic]
[Level: Max]
[Details: Your mastery over all weapons has reached master level. Damage dealt with these weapons is increased by an additional 400%. Only one armament may empower you at a time, granting a 200% increase to defense. This effect does not stack. Special Effect: Your attacks inflict bleeding on targets.]
Moon stared at his skill’s new effect.
Four hundred percent damage. Two hundred percent defense. Plus a bleeding effect on every strike.
Against opponents who relied on regeneration or toughness, the bleeding effect would be useful.
Combined with his True Elemental Physique, the effects stacked. Lightning damaged the soul and paralyzed muscles. Fire reduced fire resistance and applied burning.
Ice slowed targets and accumulated frost.
And now Weaponmaster added bleeding to every weapon strike.
A target hit by all four would be paralyzed, burning, slowed, and bleeding simultaneously.
Moon summoned his sword, feeling its grip on his fingers.
"Not bad..."
[Lives: 163,209]
"I can still evolve another Epic skill. And maybe one or two Rare skills on top of that."
Moon browsed through his remaining skill list, mentally tagging which ones were worth investing in tonight.
The Epic-rank skills he hadn’t already evolved were limited. Most of his strongest abilities had been pushed to Second Order. Bird Dance was the only Epic skill left that he hadn’t touched.
After thinking it over for a moment, he decided not to evolve it tonight.
"I’ll wait until tomorrow. There’s a chance I could copy a powerful class during the second stage. If that happens, I’d rather save my lives for a fresh evolution from whatever I gain. Spending sixty thousand lives on Bird Dance now would be premature."
Bird Dance was useful, but it wasn’t urgent. The skill was already at a strong baseline, and his current combat style had enough depth that he didn’t desperately need it upgraded right now. Whatever surprises the second stage threw at him would likely create better opportunities.
He shifted his focus to lower-ranked skills.
Two of them stood out as worth the investment. Both would provide tangible improvements in his fighting, even without the massive upgrades that Epic evolutions tended to deliver.
[Golden Skin]
[Order: First]
[Rank: Rare]
[Level: 15]
[Details: The user’s body becomes vastly more resilient to damage. Non-magical weapons cannot penetrate the skin. Provides 25-30% damage reduction against First Order weapons and beast attacks, with reduction scaling based on the weapon’s quality and the attack’s power.]
"This will improve my survivability. Even if it’s not Epic, a Rare skill at Second Order is still significantly better than nothing."
[Level 15 → 16: 1,024 Lives]
...
[Level 19 → 20: 16,384 Lives]
[Total Consumption: 32,736 Lives]
[Your First Order Skill Golden Skin has evolved to Second Order Skill: Platinum Skin]
[Platinum Skin]
[Details: The user’s body becomes vastly more resilient to damage. First Order weapons cannot penetrate the skin. Provides 30-35% damage reduction against Second Order weapons and attacks, with reduction scaling based on the weapon’s quality and the attack’s power.]
"Not too bad."
The upgrade was meaningful. Against Second Order weapons or attacks, he gained a thirty to thirty-five percent flat damage reduction. Combined with his already enhanced constitution, the boost would make a significant difference in survival situations.
Unfortunately, Rare-ranked skills didn’t unlock special effects upon evolution the way some Epic skills did. The upgrade was pure stat improvement, nothing flashy. But pure stat improvement was still pure stat improvement.
Moon’s attention moved to the next skill.
[Air Step]
[Rank: Uncommon]
[Level: 15] [Evolve]
[Details: You can temporarily solidify air particles around you for support. +55% movement speed when airborne. Effect duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute between uses.]
The skill’s ranking was low, but its usefulness had proven itself dozens of times. Air Step had saved his life in multiple critical moments. The fight with the pavilion spirit. The Elephantos charge. The assassin’s slash that would have taken his eye. Whenever a situation required emergency vertical movement or sudden directional changes, Air Step had been the answer.
It deserved an upgrade.
He confirmed.
[Level 15 → 16: 512 Lives]
...
[Level 19 → 20: 8,192 Lives]
[Total Consumption: 16,368 Lives]
[Your First Order Skill Air Step has evolved to Second Order]
